Popular
by fukuji mihoko
Summary: Madoka learns the hard way that the life of a Puella Magi is not all fun and games. Sacrifices must be made, innocence must be lost, and hope turns into despair as Madoka faces her biggest enemy yet.


**Popular**

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><p>"H-he's dying…"<p>

Kaname Madoka stared at the cat in shock. The poor creature could hardly move. It lay on the tarmac, its legs sprawled out at awkward angles and its black fur slick with its own blood. The sight was sickening- and yet, at the same time, Madoka couldn't look away.

It…

It looked like it was in so much pain.

Not just pain.

_Agony._

Madoka's eyes began to fill with tears, her fingers clasping at the front of her school shirt. She hated seeing creatures that were hurt, even in cartoons or movies. The sight of real, living animal with bent-backwards limbs, choking out its last breaths, was simply too much for her. If Madoka saw a scene like this in a movie she could skip it, but this was different. This was real life.

A-and in real life she…

S-she…

She couldn't _**do**_ anything.

She could only stand at the watch the cat die.

Kaname Madoka had never felt more useless.

"_You're not useless, Madoka."_

Madoka started slightly as Kyuubey's voice drifted through her mind. Kyuubey sounded calm as always- a direct contrast to the panicked rush of emotions spiralling through Madoka's mind.

"_K-kyuubey…?"_ Madoka answered tentatively (telepathically, of course. Madoka had learnt the hard way that people were just a _little _bit suspicious of teenage girls who spoke to imaginary friends nobody else could see).

"_Madoka, this animal does not need to suffer. __Form a contract with me and become a Puella Magi. Then you can save this cat."_

Madoka's eyes widened slightly.

"_Y-you…__ You can really do that?" _asked Madoka, hardly daring to believe. The cat looked as if it were in so much pain; how could anybody recover from injuries so severe?

"_I saved Tomoe Mami, didn't I? Just have faith, Madoka. Have__ faith in yourself and you can create a miracle."_

Madoka knew it was a big decision; one that could, potentially, kill her. But when Madoka looked at the sprawled body of that poor cat, her mind had already been made up. Madoka couldn't say no. It would have been_ cruel_ to say no.

_If you can save a living creature from death and you ch__oose not to, that makes you a bad person, right? Mom always says I should help people…_

_I'll be doing the right thing._

Madoka nodded slightly, her pigtails fluttering in the breeze. She'd made up her mind.

She was going to become a Puella Magi.

No matter what the consequences were.

Madoka knew she was doing the right thing.

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><p>Madoka was sat at her computer, looking at the homework her english teacher had mailed to her. Something about translating nursery rhymes…? It was fairly late at night and Madoka would- being the good girl that she was- have completed her homework much earlier. However, Madoka had soon discovered life as a Puella Magi wasn't all frilly costumes and over-sized hair ribbons. Being magical included a lot of hard work, too. It wasn't <em><strong>that<strong>_ bad because Mami was with her, but things like homework tended to fall by the wayside a little when you had a universe to save.

Madoka yawned, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand, as she stared at the computer screen. The English text didn't make any sense; it just looked like random shapes splashed across a screen.

She…

She felt so sleepy…

M-maybe she could just rest her eyes… for a few seconds… T-that wouldn't be so bad, would it?

S-she could just have a quick nap…

I-it was so quiet…

So peaceful…

So…

"_Meow~_"

Madoka's eyelids snapped open so quickly it was a wonder her muscles didn't spasm. Madoka very nearly fell over backwards off her chair in shock. That 'meow' had been fairly quiet, but in the relative silence it'd split through the air like a bolt of lightening!

"W-what?"

Shuddering, wrapping her arms round her body in a protective manner, Madoka turned in her chair to see where the 'meow' sound had come from.

There was a cat in the garden below her bedroom window.

N-no, wait…

Madoka blinked, her eyes adjusting to the darkness outside, as she slowly began to make out more moving shapes in the shadows.

There was more than one cat down there.

_Definitely more._

There were four cats now-

Five…

Six seven eight twelve fifteen twenty-six?

The more Madoka tried to count them the more cats she saw, until they no longer looked like separate beings. Instead, they all looked like one big catty mass of… _cat_.

Cats were adorable, but that was quite creepy…

What _was_ this? Did her room smell of tuna or something? Could cats smell tuna through windows? Or maybe this was some scared feline festival that took place when Jupiter aligned with the sun?

Was it all a dream?

Madoka stared at the writhing mass of cute ears and whiskers and flickering tails. The unholy feline cacaphony was meowing now; all together, in an eerie wail that made Madoka shudder.

"W-why are all these cats in my garden?" Madoka asked Kyuubey, who was sat on her bed doing an excellent impersonation of a stuffed toy. Madoka was too surprised to bother speaking telepathically.

Kyuubey's ears twitched slightly.

"_Don't you know, Madoka? There are special talents that come with being a magical girl, depending on what you wished for."_

"_L-like what?" _asked Madoka- who, at this point, had calmed down enough to remember Kyuubey didn't need her to speak aloud.

"_Let's see…" _Kyuubey's ears twitched again. _"Some Puella Magi who wish for miracle cures to certain disease have the additional power of augmented healing. Other Puella Magi suddenly become very good at certain skills related to their wishes- and I hear there are some Puella Magi who can read human minds, see when people are going to die and even stop time."_

Madoka's eyes widened at this knowledge. _"T-that's amazing! S-so…" _Madoka turned to look at the mass of felines congregated in her back garden. _"What's my special talent?"_

There was a short pause. The cats were still meowing.

When Kyuubey next spoke, Madoka was sure- even though his voice sounded completely neutral, as always- he was mocking her.

"_It appears you are very popular with cats, Madoka."_

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><p>When Madoka walked to school the next day she felt like a zombie. She hadn't gotten any sleep at all last night- not because of her strenuous activities as a Puella Magi, but because the cats outside her bedroom window would <em>not shut up.<em>

Madoka was not a particularly violent or vengeful person, and she loved all animals (particularly the cute and fluffy ones), but even _she_ felt just a little bitter towards all things feline just now.

It was a good thing the cats weren't following her school.

Sayaka and Hitomi were walking alongside Madoka, both of them talking about… something. Madoka didn't know what; she was too sleepy to focus on it properly. Madoka had to hide her yawns behind her hand or turn them into coughs. Hitomi was a known worrier, and Madoka didn't want to upset her.

Even so-

_Yawwwn._

-Madoka's brilliant attempts at subterfuge weren't working too well.

"Madoka-chan," said Hitomi, breaking off her conversation with Sayaka to look, eyes filled with worry, at her pink-haired friend. "Madoka-chan, are you feeling well? You've been incredibly quiet, and you keep yawning."

"N-no I haven-"

_Yawwwn._

Hitomi raised an eyebrow. "See? You did it just then."

Madoka's face flushed the same color as her hair. She hated lying- but how could she explain everything to Hitomi in a way she would understand? "U-um, i-it's just… U-um…"

"Madoka, did you go out drinking last night?" asked Sayaka, her eyes sparkling. "Did you stay up really, really late? You're becoming such a bad girl!"

"N-no, I-I didn't do that-"

"Kyahh! My Madoka-chan is becoming a rebel!" Hitomi squeaked, pulling Madoka into a hug. "Don't go over to the dark side, Madoka-chan!"

Madoka was about to reply (with something along the lines of 'you're crushing my windpipe, Hitomi-chan), when-

"_Meow~"_

-she stopped.

And stared.

There were more cats.

Saying there were 'lots' of cats would have been an understatement. No, this was beyond mere 'lots'. This was a veritable **army **of cats. They'd all appeared out of nowhere, too; suddenly blocking Madoka's path in a thick, feline _wall._

Madoka could only stare in horror.

If she hadn't been so incredibly innocent, she probably would have cursed or kicked something.

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><p>There were cats, cats everywhere.<p>

When Madoka sat in her classroom the cats began to conjugate outside the window.

When Madoka ran round the track in sport she wasn't alone, because six or seven cats ran with her, tripping her up as they rubbed against her legs.

When Madoka walked home with Sayaka (Hitomi had been struck down with a sudden case of asthma- most likely brought about by Madoka's new _friends_) no less than thirty-seven cats accompanied them.

"You sure are popular, huh?" said Sayaka, smirking. "What did you do, stuff your pockets full of tuna?"

Madoka could only sigh.

"Though, look on the bright side!" said Sayaka, smiling blithely. "With all these cats, you practically have your own army! You could rule the **world **with these things!"

"I don't really want to rule the world, Sayaka-chan…"

_I just want to have some peace and quiet that's not interrupted by constant 'meow'ing every five seconds!_

_Is that REALLY too much to ask?_

"Or, I know, I know!" said Sayaka, clapping her hands together as a 'Brilliant Idea' hit her. "You could use these cats to deliver your mail!"

"…What?"

"You could write your message on paper, see?" said Sayaka, gesticulating wildly as she spilled the contents of her head out for Madoka's inspection. "Then, when you've written your message, you can **staple it **to the body of a cat and throw it through somebody's window! Wouldn't that be great? Hahaha-"

Unfortunately the cats did not think Sayaka's idea was so great.

That was proved when they all tried to attack her.

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><p>Cats, cats, cats, cats, cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats never-ending CATS.<p>

There were cats _everywhere._

Madoka, meanwhile, was crouched in the corner of her room, her head over her ears, rocking backwards and forwards whilst she had a mental breakdown.

W-was this what going insane felt like? Every second of the day was filled with constant _meow_ing, and Madoka couldn't take it anymore! Human beings could only put up with so much pressure!

Madoka grabbed a handful of her hair and wept.

All of a sudden, she didn't want to be a Puella Magi anymore.

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><p><strong>an: **Cats :D  
>This is slightly ridiculous and I doubt Madoka's real wish made her super-popular with cats in the actual series, but… why not? XD<br>This is, of course, the real danger of becoming a Puella Magi.

**~renahhchen xoxo**


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